But what about those moments that paved the way for greatness? The moments — such as the work of Russ Hochstein, David Patten or Josh Miller — that only are recalled with a second, third or even a fourth viewing of those championship era DVDs? Those small, underappreciated events that may have flown under the radar at the time but ultimately proved to be impactful moments on the game?

With Super Bowl XLIV looming at the end of the week, this seems like a good a time as any for our take on the Top 5 underrated moments in New England’s recent Super Bowl history:

5. Josh Miller’s final punt at the end of Super Bowl XXXIX

Philadelphia had just pulled to within 24-21 when Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb hit Greg Lewis (remember him?) over the middle with 1:55 left in regulation. The Eagles were unable to recover their onside kick, but they soon forced the Patriots to punt the ball away with under a minute left. Under the gun, Miller delivered: He adroitly dropped a punt inside the Eagles 4-yard line. It buried Philadelphia deep in its own territory, making New England’s last-minute defensive stand — which ended with Rodney Harrison picking off McNabb — all the easier. (FWIW, it was a great day for Miller, who pinned the Eagles inside their 20-yard line three times.)

4. David Patten’s touchdown route in Super Bowl XXXVI

Late in the second quarter against the Rams, the Patriots converted on their only offensive touchdown of the night when Tom Brady found David Patten on an 8-yard strike, a relatively simple looking red zone connection that gave New England a 14-3 lead. The play was initially part of the Patriots passing game as a simple down-and-out pattern, but in the week leading up to the game, the Patriots had realized St. Louis cornerback Dexter McCleon had a tendency to jump the route.

So, Bill Belchick and Charlie Weis told Brady and Patten to alter the route — instead of having Patten make a beeline for the pylon, Patten added an extra move, breaking for the pylon and then flattening out before adding another break toward the corner of the end zone. The move worked: Patten made the adjustment, and McCleon bit on the move. Patten ended up catching the ball in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown.

3. Carolina’s John Kasay kicking the ball out bounds in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXVIII

In Super Bowl XXXVIII, John Kasay had a great first 59 minutes. He converted a 50-yard field goal and made all his extra points, the last of which tied the wild shootout of a game at 29 with 1:08 remaining. But his final kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Patriots the ball on the New England 40 with 1:04 remaining.

Brady and the New England offense took advantage of Kasay’s blunder. The quarterback engineered a six-play, 37-yard drive that included two 13-yard pass plays to Troy Brown and a key third-down connection to Deion Branch that went for 17 yards. That set up Adam Vinatieri’s 41-yard field goal with four seconds left.

“I got around on it a little bit,” Kasay said. “I was just trying to make a good, solid kick. I did hit it solid, but I just got around on it just a little bit. That’s not what you want, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

2. The performance of the New England offensive line in Super Bowl XXXVIII

During Super Bowl week, the Patriots linemen were universally panned by many in the national media, including Warren Sapp, who wondered on “Pardon the Interruption” in the week leading up to the game how the O-line would be able to hold back the Carolina pass rush. Sapp intimated that Russ Hochstein couldn’t block Tony Kornheiser or Michael Wilbon, much less Carolina's vaunted front four of Julius Peppers, Kris Jenkins, Brentson Buckner and Mike Rucker.

But Hochstein, Matt Light, Dan Koppen, Joe Andruzzi and Tom Ashworth managed to keep Tom Brady out of harm’s way all night — Brady attempted 48 passes and was not sacked once. (According to Michael Holley’s “Patriot Reign,” Hochstein drunkenly laughed at Sapp’s comments after the game. “Where is Warren Sapp now? Fat [12-letter expletive].”) It capped a magnificent playoff run for the New England offensive line — Brady attempted 126 postseason passes (not including scrambles) and was not sacked.

“We've been hearing the whole playoffs how crummy we are,” offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said after the game. “How we're just a bunch of bums and aren't any good. They had a sackless postseason. So let's give the offensive line its just due.”

It was perhaps the ballsiest moment in Weis’ career with the Patriots: Locked in a fourth-quarter shootout with the Carolina Panthers and facing a fourth-quarter deficit, Brady found linebacker turned tight end Mike Vrabel on a third-and-goal from the 1 to give New England a 27-22 lead.

The Patriots followed that up with a two-point conversion attempt with a direct snap to Kevin Faulk, who scooted into the end zone to make it 29-22. (Despite Faulk finishing the year with 1,078 yards from scrimmage in the regular season, it was the first time all year he found the end zone.) The move paid off when Carolina answered with a late score to tie the game at 29, setting the stage for Vinatieri’s game-winner with four seconds left.

The game was the best example of Vrabel as a do-everything spare part — he finished with a game-high two sacks, caught his second career touchdown pass and forced a fumble in the Patriots’ 32-29 win.

“Christian Fauria and Daniel Graham are going to be mad at me because I’m always telling them that I’m an option on that play,” Vrabel said. “They don’t like it. But Charlie Weis called a great play.”

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

In the first hour of the show, Greg and Chris discuss the news coming out of the owners' meetings this week and rule changes. Belichick's blow-up over the league not wanting to spend on endzone cameras was well documented and the guys react. They also talk about the Jets ridiculous tampering charges, free agents still lingering out there, where Stevan Ridley will land and the RB position in New England. Dickerson and Price briefly discuss the adventures of Tom Brady before being joined by WEEI.com's Mike Petraglia to talk all things Pats in the offseason.

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

Peter Chiarelli joined the Sunday Skate crew to talk about the Bruins playoff push heading into the final handful of games of the regular season. Chiarelli talked about avoiding some of the overly negative feedback he gets while realizing that the team does have real issues. He discusses what went down at the trade deadline and if he was happy with the outcome, Lucic having a down year and underperforming, the salary cap and if he considers it as big of an issue as it's been made out to be and what the future holds for the team.

It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

With the Wells report seemingly wrapping up (we hope), Tim and Lou got to talking about possible fines and punishments the Patriots must face. It's possible that the Patriots will face a small fine, but should they take that laying down? The conversation brings out a little passion from BOTH sides.